Harris aide seeks ruling on environmental summit

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

A key aide to Mayor Jeremy Harris has been wrongly targeted for criminal prosecution because of her work on special events that involved major contributors to the mayor's political campaigns, according to an unusual lawsuit filed against the city yesterday.

The suit, filed in Circuit Court on behalf of Lynette Char and two nonprofit groups, asks the court to declare that Char and the groups did nothing wrong by organizing environmental conferences paid for with public and private money.

Plaintiffs attorney Philip Brown acknowledged that it was unorthodox to ask a civil court to rule on matters pertaining to an ongoing criminal investigation, but said the probe had jeopardized a conference planned for next year.

"I think it is unusual, but given the circumstances, I don't know of any other venue where you could seek such relief," Brown said.

Char and other city workers should be able to organize the 2003 Mayors' Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit without a threat of prosecution hanging over them, he said.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle could not be reached for comment, and an assistant said Carlisle had not yet seen the suit.

Char is the city's deputy director for enterprise services and was an executive assistant to Harris. Her husband, Peter, was the chief fund-raiser for Harris' 2000 re-election campaign and his aborted campaign for governor.

Peter Char is also president of the two nonprofit groups named as plaintiffs in the suit: Friends of the City and County of Honolulu and the Environmental Foundation. Lynette Char is on the board of directors of each group.

Prosecutors have interviewed City Council members and a tax attorney about public money the city granted to the groups or spent in conjunction with them for the conferences, which Harris co-chaired.

The city granted $100,000 to the Friends in 1999 for the first environmental event and spent more than $300,000 on one held last year. The city budget for the current fiscal year includes $100,000 for a conference to be held in June.

Private money from international development agencies and Honolulu engineers and consultants was also used for the events, which drew hundreds of representatives from governments throughout the Pacific Rim.

Among the top Hawai'i donors were several companies that contributed heavily to Harris' campaigns and were also awarded nonbid city contracts.

Employees from some of the firms were subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury investigating any improper links between the donations and the contracts. The grand jury is scheduled to reconvene on Thursday.

Harris has said he wants to establish Honolulu as a regional leader in environmental technology and sustainable development. Conference organizers have also said the events were meant to expand Hawai'i's economy and employment base by introducing state contractors to overseas markets.

Prosecutors have not publicly discussed the investigation. But according to the lawsuit, prosecutors have told city employees and others that:

• the friends improperly or illegally received money from the city for the 1999 conference;
• some or all of the events were not really sponsored by the city;
• it was improper or illegal for Lynette Char and other city employees to work on the 1999 conference and other special events;
• it was improper or illegal for the Friends and the Foundation to solicit money from companies and people who also contributed to the mayor's campaigns;
• the Friends created a political slush fund or engaged in prohibited political activity;
• Char is the target or subject of a criminal investigation because of these allegations.

The suit says the probe is making it hard for the nonprofits to raise money, and asks that they and Char be cleared of wrongdoing so planning for the next event will not be hindered.

Harris' attorney, William McCorriston, also represents Char regarding the criminal probe. He said prosecutors had informed him months ago that Char was a target in the probe. He declined to say whether Harris had been described in the same context.

McCorriston said Char had requested that prosecutors state directly whether she may legally continue working on the events.

"They give these wishy-washy answers," he said. "The most distressing part is that they know we didn't do anything wrong, and they know they've given us bad publicity but they won't make it right."

Neither Harris nor the Chars could be reached for comment.